Strengths and Weaknesses of Utilitarianism

Strengths and Weaknesses of UtilitarianismThe origins of utilitarianism atomic number 18 often traced as far hind end as the Greek philosopher Epicurus nevertheless the main idea is thought to keep down from Jeremy Bentham who said that Utilitarian argument worked by nature has placed earth under the governance of two sovereign masters, anguish and pleasure. in that respect are two main different types of utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism states that, when faced with a choice, we moldiness offset consider the likely consequences of potential actions and, from that, choose to do what we swear will generate the most pleasure. The rule utilitarian, on the other hand, begins by looking at potential rules of action. To determine whether a rule should be followed, he looks at what would happen if it were constantly followed.Utilitarianism is a very inviol fitting and stable argument, I personally think that without knowing nearly it a lot of mountain use it to decide what to do, my example is what happened when I go home, I stir two younger brothers and we always seem to weightlift over something, usually food, like the closing bit of cake, or the last of the coca-cola. What my mum does without realising is a very Utilitarian idea, she says Oliver, you take three deoxyephedrine and pour the coke out equally, then Giles and Theo, you choose. This way I screen to pour all the glasses equally otherwise I arrive at stuck with a sincerely small glass of coke, because my greedy brothers would drink the glass with more in. Utilitarianism uses a lot of separate principles. Someone who accepts some of the principals but not others may be seen as a utilitarian. This mainly includes the totally of the human race.The Utilitarian argument has the strange ability to seem really obvious to who ever it benefits and completely wrong to the minority that it doesnt benefit. e.g. rapists. There is another problem that there are no ethical arguments which are agre ed by everyone, for example in certain eastern countries, flock believe that woman who cheat on there husbands should be stone to death, where as the general western society believe that this is completely wrong. yet there are some points most people agree on. Rape, stealing and lying are seen as bad where as, giving, helping and healing are seen as goodness thingsOne obvious thing that these things have in common is that most of the things agreed to be good are things which excite people happy, and most of the things agreed to be bad are things which recognise most people miserable.Bentham realised that there should be some flesh of scale on which mirth can be judged. Bentham did this by proposing the voluptuous calculus. The hedonic calculus lists seven features of pleasure to which attention must be paid in order to assess how great it is intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent. This scale allows us to find the act which leads to the grea test pleasure. However there was a Philosopher by and by Bentham called John Mill, John Mill was a child prodigy who was able to read several languages at an early age, and the son of a assistant of Jeremy Bentham. Perhaps the greatest British philosopher of the nineteenth century, Mill maintained that the salubrious being of the individual was of greatest importance and that happiness is most in effect gained when individuals are free to pursue their own ends so long as they keep with the rules that protect the common good of all. While mill reliable the utility principle of the greatest good for the greatest number he was concerned about the difficulty raised when for example there is the storey of the couplet instrument. The bridge operator took his son to work with him. He rapturous in telling his little boy how everything worked and how important his job was, since hundreds of people relied on him to raise and reduce this bridge so they could travel safely from place t o place. The little boy beamed with pride as his bring forth explained his job. He too greatly admired all of the turn overes that controlled the huge gears. But after a couple of hours of observing his father work, the boy grew bored, so his father sent him out to play. A short while later, the bridge operator realized that it was almost time for him to lower the bridge so the 5 p.m. commuter train could cross. But, as he was about to pull the switch that would lower the bridge, he glanced out the window to see that his son had manifestly been climbing on the gears and his foot was stuck. In fact, he was wedged among the huge gears alive, but trappedand unable to free himself. The engineer was about to hurry to help his son when he heard the train babble out in the distance. Suddenly he realized that he did not have sufficient time to free his son, return to the control box, and lower the bridge in time for the passenger train to cross safely. But if he pulled the switch to l ower the bridge, his little boy would be crushed in the massive turning gears in which he was entangled. He was forced to do work a horrible choice either his son would be killed, or a trainload of passengers would plunge to their deaths in the river below. Mill thought if the greatest good for the greatest number was purely quantities based on the quantities of pleasure and pain caused what would stop one persons pleasure from that act. To address this difficulty Mill rivet on qualities pleasures. He developed a system of higher and lower pleasures preferring the higher pleasures to the lower ones. Mill said It is transgress to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfiedBenthams theory has a number of clear benefits. It seems reasonable to link ethics with the pursuit of happiness and the avoidance of pain and misery and this connection would receive popular support. It also seems natural to consider the consequenc es of our actions when deciding what to do, utilitarianism offers a balanced democratic morality that promotes the general happiness. However there are a number of difficulties with utilitarianism the first difficulty concerns all theorys that rely on the consequences for deciding which actions are good. demand to be sure that what I think will come about as a result of particular action will in reality come about. Utilitarianism depends upon accurate predictions.